Spellings may vary, but this is a well-known Yorkshire saying which basically suggests that one shouldn’t spend one’s money unnecessarily.

Yorkshire people have a reputation for being somewhat mean careful with their money.

I’d never heard this as a kid, and when I went to university I was rather surprised when people told me this.

Everyone I knew was always generous. You bought drinks in the pub when it was your round. If you threw a party, you provided food and drink. If people turned up uninvited you always offered them something. Or a bed for the night. There was always ‘seconds’ of food. My mother would have died rather than having people think she hadn’t cooked sufficient amounts.

I was always brought up with the concept that you paid your way and it was better to overpay than underpay. And any guests were offered unreserved hospitality.

So where did this strange rumour come from? I thought Scottish people and Welsh people were meant to be niggardly persons (my Welsh mother-in-law certainly is), but us Yorkshire people, we have hearts of gold. Or maybe, we have with each other.

I knew the saying of course. Along with learning to sing On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘At. It’s part of the culture of growing up in Yorkshire.

Wiki has some interesting info. I never knew that Tyke was a derogatory word with respect to a Yorkshire person and was surprised to hear it being referred to non-Yorkies. It is our word and shouldn’t be appropriated for other usage.

And, it’s also used for the language, as in ‘Does tha speak Tyke?’ I had a great book some time ago by the rather obnoxious Austin Mitchell (opinionated Yorkshire journalist – that’s actually tautological because all Yorkshire people are opinionated), called, Teach Thissen Tyke.

We have ginnels whereas other people have alleyways or passages. Apparently Lancastrians also have ginnels, but we won’t get into that because Yorkshire and Lancashire have always been in a permanent state of war ever since the War of The Roses (late 1400s). Which makes Spain rattling sabres against Gib for a mere 300 years pretty farcical. A ginnel is also a snicket.

God’s Own County. Not that I believe in God, but as that really means the best place in the world, I have to agree with it. People from Yorkshire are obnoxiously boring with their pride about coming from Yorkshire. I grew up with that culture and that view, and once there, you don’t get rid of it.

We were the biggest county in the country. Divided into thirds (Ridings), even our largest riding (the West Riding – nearly two million acres) was bigger than any other county. We had everything – scenery, hills, dales, coastline, industry, agriculture, heritage, beautiful cities and wonderful architecture.

Our own food. Yorkshire pudding is the most famous. I have never eaten it in those silly little small versions, it was always made in a large tin (the Yorkshire pudding tin no less) and served with gravy before our main course. I liked it best with currants in. My dad grew up with blackberries added too but my mother drew the line at that.

Curd tart (more currants). We usually bought this on our summer holidays in Bridlington from Mr Somebody or other who did the best curd tart ever.

There have been numerous calls for Yorkshire Home Rule. To be viable, home rule needs to be economically productive. Back when I was a kid, it was. Steel, coal, agriculture, mills, fishing.

Earlier this century there was a BBC poll about home rule for Yorkshire. Sixty per cent of people voted in favour, and York was the favoured base for the assembly. Yorkshire had three ridings, each riding had a capital – Wakefield for the West Riding, Beverley for the East Riding, and Northallerton for the North Riding. None of these historical riding capitals were included in the options. Silly poll by people who didn’t respect our Yorkshire history.

York was not part of any Riding, but was the capital city of Yorkshire and a county borough in its own right.

Ridings (ie thryddings or thirdings) were abolished in 1974. Much to the disgust of those of us who were brought up with them. I continued to address mail to my parents in the WEST RIDING for many years afterwards.

So there we have it. Threes in abundance.

Three pictures of monkeys at the top. In a triptych.

The Yorkshire saying, which goes in threes, and presumably based on the three wise monkeys – see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

And our Ridings – all three of them.

To round up. Three thanks.

1) Andrew, for suggesting Three Wise Monkeys without realising what he would spark off

2) Vicky, for being a great internet mate, and without doubt a very generous Tyke

3) Sandra, another Tyke, who has a place in Spain, comes from the East Riding and recently offered to send me her book to review on my blog (it will be on roughseas).

(for those of you who read Clouds, I was dying to call this riding, riding, riding!)

Oh and threes, I need to link back to pesky WordPress here. (Hey, who cares!)

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50 comments on “Three wise Yorkshire monkeys”

“Allus do it for thysen”- mmm. I don’t believe in Scottish meanness, either, being Scots: there are always people “first out of the taxi, and last into the pub” but I don’t think they come from any particular place more than others.

The Saddleworth White Rose society were really pissed off at being stuck in the Oldham Metropolitan Borough.

I don’t know where these myths come from. I don’t see how you can generalise like that according to where you are born. Most people I know have always been generous in various ways, regardless of their origin. I would think it is our inter-action with people that results in so-called meanness or not.

Or perhaps there is a sort of alliance with certain geographical groupings. The UK very clearly demonstrates that with the north south divide. And then there are hierarchies. People from Yorkshire will automatically have reservations against southerners. We have a historical dispute with Lancastrians but at least they are northern. So we will ally with them against southerners. Scots are much further north, so they are OK too. Off the top of my head I can’t think of a single mean Scot I have met.

Saddleworth is interesting. It is the reverse of Todmorden which used to be half and half. Just why not leave things be? Changing boundaries just refuels existing bias and prejudice. There is enough of that around as it is.

I had a posh weekend in Harrogate with some southerners, and the Yorkshirewoman went off on a long diatribe about the telly stopping at ten because we all had to be at t’mill at seven, but at least her bath was full of coal, and there’s music in the clatter of the clogs.

My mother used to make yorkshire puddings in large tins, I did not realise it was the proper way though, every or most Sunday lunches. and for a southerner I would say she was very good. Although Yorkshire has some great history mostly seems to be war of the roses stuff. I cannot say about niggardly people, because I dont really know any one from Yorkshire but the Geordies a little further up were generous to a fault. Again I learn a bit. I think I have heard of Austin Mitchell, was he not on the tely a bit back in those days. 70’s.+

Gerry, as a fully born and brought up Yorkie, I have never in my life made Yorkshire pudding! I liked it when my mum made it (pref with currants) and yummy onion gravy. I don’t eat like that now though, and I doubt I would enjoy it.

Hmmmm, we have a lot more history than just War of the Roses thank you very much. However this is not the history lecture blog. I did start some Yorkshire posts over on Clouds but I will have to start all over again. For later.

I spent years in Newcastle. But my point is that nobody geographically is more or less generous than others and I didn’t find Geordies better or worse. (I might manage a post about a few of my drunken nights out where men magically buy me drinks when I run out of money).

Austin Mitchell was on TV, I think he was a presenter for Calendar, YTV prog. I didn’t like him. Also stood as a politician for Hull, I think. No checked it, Greater Grimsby and he is 79!!! He’s also a sexist piece of work, so I am vindicated in disliking him. Born in Bradford.

I grew up thinking that Scots are the stingy ones. Not that any Scottish person I ever met has evidenced this, but my Mom (whose parents were from some unknown — to me — part of the UK) would sometimes refer to someone’s penny pinching (such as my paternal grandfather, who had Brit blood, but no Scottish to my knowledge) with terms such as “It’s the Scots in him.” I have heard no such thing about Yorkshire folk, or anyone else, for that matter.

I am so disappointed to hear that you no longer eat yorkshire puddings. I grew up on them. Sunday dinner (noon meal, after church) was often roast beef and yorkshire puddings (the small ones, always served with gravy!) and I love them still — although I only eat them about once every 3 years. I have only ever made them once, and although I know that you have to beat the batter by hand, because a mixer deflates the batter, I have been leery of all the oil that is involved, and don’t want to risk an oven fire. Not that we ever had one in my childhood — but why take chances? Currants — or worse, blackberries — seem like such foreign ingredients.

I thought Canada — and particularly the westernmost province was God’s country! Mind you, I also believe in God, so also believe that the whole earth is filled with His glory, and… I have been to quite a few other places, like Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, and have learned first hand that other places have incredible beauty, too. I don’t know if I was ever in Yorkshire, although I did take a train from London up to Edinburgh once, so may have passed through. Saw lots of green fields surrounded by beautifully manicured bushes (instead of the fencing that is so common in North America).

As for language: do you happen to know the term “tumpy” to refer to the ends of a loaf of bread? We grew up with this term, so it must have some Irish/Scottish/British origin, but no one outside my family has ever heard the term, and neither of my parents were able to say where the term came from. Do you know?

Oh! And I really enjoyed your post. the monkeys caught my attention, and I want to know where they were? This can’t be in Yorkshire, can it? Was it taken somewhere in Gib?

Scottish was what I had heard of. We didn’t really talk much about Welsh as they were non-entities anyway. There is the phrase about ‘Welshing on people of course’ meaning to back out of a deal or agreement. People are much the same wherever they come from. Good people, bad people, generous people, mean people are everywhere.

Yorkshire pudding was something in my childhood, and I never thought of making it once I left home. While I’ve not made them, I do know how. I asked my mother for the recipe once. Some flour, an egg, add milk/water. ‘Well, how much? I asked. ‘Enough,’ she replied puzzled at my stupid question. These days I can understand that because I make bread like that. She didn’t use a lot of oil though. Suspect she used lard come to think of it. Enough to coat the bottom of the tin and no more. It’s quite common to add things to Yks puddings. See Vicky’s comment below about having it with syrup (yuk!) But the variations tend to be home cooking rather than eating out. Again, it revolves around the big tin and filling you up before (or after) your main course as eggs and flour are cheaper than meat.

Wiki has an interesting link hereabout God’s Own Country. Because we are a country, it’s interchangeable between county and country. You would have passed through Yorkshire. The London to Edinburgh train invariably stops at Doncaster in the south of the country, usually then through York where you can see the minster from the train route, then through Northallerton and then leaving the county somewhat after that. It was originally GNER, Great North Eastern Railway, but all that is far too long for a reply!

I have never heard of tumpy in my life, so all I can say is that to my knowledge, it is not a northern thing. Sounds more scottish or irish?

Thanks Diana. No, we don’t have free-ranging monkeys in Yorkshire :D They were outside my house in Gib. They had come down for a Sunday afternoon snack from the rubbish bins and to play on the scaffolding.

I’ve written about them before here before you started reading Everypic. That post tells you more about the monkeys.

Firstly, on my desk I have the motto on a cup stand.
See here
I also have my Yorkshire language book, which all exiled Tykes must have ;-)here

I’ve often been called a tight Tyke, but like you say, it’s not being mean, we are careful.

I think we are generous too, but let anyone dare take advantage of that generosity, they won’t be a friend for long. Perhaps that’s where the rumour comes from, because as most folk know, we’ll speak our mind, to the point of being called rude.

Ginnels and Snickets, LOL, when I first moved away, and my accent was far stronger, I remember saying to someone ‘up t’snicket’, and getting some weird looks.

Our pride in our county, is very deep rooted, I don’t think any other UK county has the same passion we have, it goes as far as, if asked where we’re from, it’s Yorkshire, never England.

Mmmm Yorkshire pudding with onion gravy, and yes, they had to be made in a big tin. Eaten before the main course, then as a pudding after (my downfall was golden syrup).

Your defiance in the change of the Ridings, was exactly the same as mine.
The part of the East Riding where my family are from, became North Humberside……how dare they, I thought, what right does someone ‘down south’ have to mess with ‘Gods own County’…… and like you I continued to address post to East Yorkshire.

Thanks for the mention…..us Tykes must stick together :-)

One of the best posts I’ve read for a long time, though I am a tad biased. ;-)

I could have sworn it would be brown because of the monkeys. So then I gave it a brown frame. No, stubborn DT (prob comes from Yks :D) held with grey. Then I thought well, let’s have a darker grey, so switched the frame colour to black. Haha! said DT, I’m not changing this colour. So there we have it. On a slight tangent, where is the option to add the frame in WP photo editing like you suggested to Jo? I couldn’t find it.

I’ve actually got two books, but I can’t remember what the other is called. I’ve not seen yours before. The dialect is a bit like llanito in a way. Spanish with some odd words thrown in, spoken in an Andaluz accent. So we speak English, with some of our own words, with a Yorkshire accent.

Perhaps we are good at prioritising? We don’t mind spending money on someone or something that to us, is worthwhile. But we don’t like waste, especially not at our expense. Maybe that comes from a tradition of many people not having much money? Certainly not in my part of industrial Yorks.

Blunt? I would call it honest. ;) We have little patience with people who run around the houses instead of calling a spade a shovel (assuming it is a shovel of course given that the two are different). It’s still on the theme of waste though, why waste everyone’s time and risk misunderstandings by not saying what you mean? I find it very frustrating.

I had a posh accent when I was a kid because of going to private prep and junior school. It was embarrassing. When I first started working on the market, I would say ‘Two shillings and sixpence please,’ in perfect Queen’s English. I longed to be able to say 2 an’ 6 with a nice Yorkshire accent :D When I got older, most people said I had a posh Yorkshire accent – if there is such a thing!! But yes, ‘up t’ snicket on t’ left’ or dahn t’ginnel on t’ right’.

We never had pudding as afters, it was always as a first course. That’s why my mother thought it was barking adding currants and serving it with onion gravy. I seem to remember she made two tins actually, and if there were currants in one, she would do a plain one for her, and dad’ s seconds. I’m surprised we could eat anything afterwards. I loved it, and yet, I’ve never missed it since leaving home. One of those things in the past.

Humberside was a ridiculous invention. Like Teesside. And Cleveland. Poor Yorkshire people suddenly being displanted. Easier for me being West Yorkshire, but still, I was VERY annoyed at the loss of the Ridings. There was always a sign at Stamford Bridge to mark the border between East and West Riding even after 1974. There was also a fine pub there which did the best prawn sandwiches EVER. On the way to Kilham and Brid I knew we were nearly at our caravan. On the way back, I knew we would soon be home.

I would have mentioned three Tykes, as I’ve found a new one from Hull, another East Riding one, but I figured Andrew deserved the credit for inspiring the post.

Incidentally, if I didn’t come from Yorkshire, I would find Yorkshire peoples’ pride and obsession with Yks very annoying. But I do, so therefore it is A Good Thing.

I should have added this of course. But I can add it to a Clouds post when I revive my Yorkshire series :)

I thnk the proverb “God makes three requests of his children: Do the best you can, where you are, with what you have, now”… sounds more like it should be attributed to Yorkshire people. Maybe there was a mix up. I love that Yorksire has a truly identifiable food culture. I did attempt Yorkshire puddings once, obviously not authentic as they were individual servings.

That’s a good one for threes and my take on it. I’ve not heard it before but I like it. Us being God’s own county you are probably right.

I only mentioned curd tart and Yks puddings but we have others like parkin. My grandmother made wonderful parkin for Bonfire Night. And the fact that we eat haddock for our fish and chips, not cod. You’ve gone one better than me as I’ve never attempted it! Somehow I doubt I could recapture my mother’s puddings which were always perfect. Just absolutely delicious.

oh yes, what have we here? good old DT pumping up the grey once again. sometimes it is simply incorrigible, isn’t it? but i do love the monkeys! and also enjoyed that youtube video as well.

i grew up without yorkshire pudding, have had it a few times while visiting friends, and i remember quite enjoying it.

and a tyke or tykes? i grew up with that term referring to kids. hearing it referred to an unfriendly term for a Yorkshire citizen or for the language itself was news to me.

i believe in God although i don’t consider myself religious, and i also believe that God is much more non-religious than many would expect. at the same time i agree with Diana and have to say that the province I live in, which happens to be called British Columbia, probably fits in that category quite nicely. i guess whoever selected the name wasn’t from Yorkshire, otherwise it may have been called Yorkshire Columbia which doesn’t quite flow across the tongue as well, but wouldn’t that have been a delightful name?!

in any case i also have seen other places on the planet which are sheer eye candy, and although there are still many that i have not seen, it is a fair assessment to say that we do live on a rather incredible planet. i don’t think i have been to Yorkshire because I have only ever flown in and out of London, and one time I took a ferry from somewhere in Northern Ireland (can’t remember which city) to Scotland and back again.

I have YET another monkey story but it will be on roughseas I think. At some point.

I do love that YT vid, one of my faves, given where I come from, although one of them got the accent wrong.

Bet you never had it in large tins though with currants in ? :D

Tyke was something I was brought up with so didn’t even realise it had been appropriated by others!

Your province does look beautiful, as is my part of Spain. The concept of God’s own county in Yorkshire extends beyond appearance. It’s in the soul. It never leaves you. I think Vicky understands it because she too grew up with it. Yorkshire Columbia would have been fine by me. A bit like New York.

Stranraer (which we’ve done late at night) or Cairnryan, to Belfast. Ship was heaving :D As in watching the portholes disappear beneath the waves. Good though. Took the dogs in the lounge with us – I don’t think you can do that now.

oh wow, that sounds like quite a lot of heaving. the ferry rides both ways were calm – although there was a stiff breeze blowing. hadn’t thought about that one ins many years…. neither name rings a bell, but it was probably one of those two.

regarding God’s country and the beauty of British Columbia, i think it might be akin to Yorkshire although not exactly like it, because it is not every beautiful place here that does that for me. but Vancouver Island’s west coast really does. i have been to a number of ocean shores including Vancouver’s of which many are accessible to the public – Hawaii, the Black Sea (maybe that one doesn’t really count), the Mediterranean, Bermuda… and while they are all beautiful, there is something about that first dip in the roadway enroute to Tofino which reveals the brilliant surf for a few seconds, and then finally being there.

perhaps it is the fact that so much of it is still undeveloped, and that the trees, some of them hundreds of years old, stand as strong sentinels, and that the ocean is able to roar freely and without interruption with nothing between you and Japan to impede its majesty. and when you look behind you, more often than not, it is not development that you see, but west coast flora and occasionally fauna. and more often than not, the vastness of the beaches makes it seem that you have all of this indescribable beauty to yourself.

the extravagance of it is mind-boggling. i can’t really put words to it, but ever since my first encounter with the Pacific out there, i am so aware that this is God’s country. i am inspired and amazed and at the same time refreshed and at rest in the face of such restless beauty. it’s the wonder of the west coast. something many encounter when they are there. something i savour long after i have returned home. it’s what keeps me going back time and time again.

capturing photos and the telling of it don’t do it justice, but i keep trying :)

no big tin for the yorkshire pudding. little personalized ones. and there were no currants. so i have not truly experienced the real thing, i see. :)

It was bizarre. I didn’t even realise it was happening at first because it didn’t feel to be pitching. It was just the visual effect of seeing sky one minute and water the next! It was a busy Sunday afternoon return ferry back to Scotland and I was more concerned about someone saying we shouldn’t have the dogs with us who were lying peaceably under our seats. They didn’t.

One of my favourite places in the UK is the west coast of Scotland, and the western isles. Yorkshire’s coastline is an east one, but I love the different beauty of Scotland’s west coast, far more like the one you are describing. Similarly in Spain, I like the Atlantic coastline – nothing until America – from Tarifa, right up through the Portuguese coastline. And even in Ireland, I loved the western side, Sligo and Connemara in particular.

I’ve seen another blog I read write about Vanc Is, so I’ll try and find the link and let you have it, see what you think to what she has written. I’ve not read it yet, but I did notice it on reader and thought of you :)

Skidby Mill pub which was the village next to the one we lived in back in the UK, still serves a whole roast meal…..in the middle of a huge Yorkshire pud! My Mum used to cook ours in a four hole pan so that was one each to have with treacle for afters (single parent and only child). Out here in Oz the ‘English’ shelf of the supermarkets has some sort of ridiculous pre-mix for it in a box……as if any self respecting Yorkshire person wouldn’t make it from scratch?!

….why am I not surprised it’s not a great website, ah well, does hold lots of memories for me that pub. Haven’t looked at prices and after 8 years in Australia I’d be a bit lost as to what is expensive over there or not :) Skidby is the next village to the one we lived in (Cottingham) and walkable distance to the pub.

It’s not a bad site, just loads of small proofing errors that always glare out at me. I vaguely remember Cottingham too – isn’t that part of the university complex? I applied to Hull but it was my fifth choice on the UCCA form so they didn’t bother interviewing me :D

It’s a village, the largest in England I think, it used to have some halls of residence for Hull Uni students but it’s predominantly a residential area where my husband is from and where we lived and brought our kids up before emigrating. It has a market green, lots of pubs and the remains of a castle moat :) about 4 miles from Beverly if you remember that town?

Ah, but do you remember the dogs in the kennels at the entrance/exit to the green? Collies if I remember rightly. (I mean Beverly here). I think Beverly can also lay claim to the first place I shagged in a car in a public car park but you didn’t need to know that. Yes I remember Beverly :D

No I don’t, but it is all pasture land so prob for sheep herding? dodge the cowpat everytime we went for picnics! I was born at the Beverley Westwood hospital, as were both my children, and I worked in one of the older buildings for a time as Primary Care Manager for Yorkshire Wolds and Coast PCT (don’t exist anymore, heard it’s NHS England and East Riding now), just before I emigrated, it’s a lovely Market Town but no shagging in public for me so I can’t say I’ve really ‘lived’ it :)

NHS reorganisations drive me spare. It was bad enough when I was a journalist and the health authorities would merge and changed names. Then I started working for the NHS! Jesus! how many times do you merge something, split it up, remerge it again and waste time, money and effort? For what reason? Beats me. At one point, I was taking minutes for four boards AND an overall one that combined the four because they hadn’t legally changed so still had to run separate meetings. ive f***ing boards!!

We did some quite early PCGs. Can’t say I was impressed with them. It was a bit like learner drivers teaching learner drivers to drive. We ended up with five PCTs doin exactly the same as the former health authorities.

The friend I met up with on Monday in Melbourne is a colleague who I worked with at Health House (or as we called it, Hell House) in Willerby, so she was bringing me up to speed on the whole NHS England arrangement now and the fact that after going all the way around the houses she is back in the same office! I went from the Health Authority to a PCT (at the Westwood) that was then moved to an old restaurant called the Four Farts….I mean Four Winds which they paid to convert at Driffield in the middle of nowhere and I was the Primary Care Services Manager so driving to York for Strategic Authority meetings, and down to Goole, Withernsea, across to Hedon, up to Brid, Flamborough, Hornsea etc where all my GP and branch surgeries where. Endless fuel claims! I left just after we implemented the new GMS and PMS contracts in 2004/5. Most of the PCT’s where made up of all of us staff that had worked at the previous Health Authorities so it really was money for old rope! Helen was telling me in the latest ‘devolution’ if that’s the right description, that GP led commissioning took over, lots of NHS admin/management got redundancies then re employed elsewhere in the NHS……it’s just a bottomless pit and I’m so glad I got out of it. It seriously nearly broke me to work for a PCT! The only good new is that rather then spend approx. a quarter of a million every time there is a name change on letterheads and signage for each area, there is now a generic colour template for letters etc and everything is just NHS England or by area, ie East Riding. In the last 8 years they had four PCT’s, then two mergers down to two, then back to one authority………..endless circle of nonsense!

I started off with a Regional Health Authority, moved to a district one, had two office moves and then – we moved into the old RHA building. Bizarre. It’s since been knocked down sadly, it was a nice building.

A lot of my colleagues were moving out to PCGs (we had some of the early pilot groups) and then later PCTs. Seemed like an excuse to downgrade salaries and get rid of people whose faces didn’t fit.

When I was with the RHA Cumbria was part of my patch and we were based in Newcastle, so that was a nice day out of the office, or more if I stayed over, plus the same fuel claims you are taking about. Barrow-in-Furness was the killer right down at the bottom of South Cumbria. Usually I went to Whitehaven though. Spent a Friday night at A&E for a press report and drove home around 4am. Weird.

When I was first in, you couldn’t get re-employed after redundancy for six months (say? not sure about the timescale), but later they changed that one :D

I don’t know which bright spark things medics can manage, but paying GPs GP salaries (and funding their plastic flowers in the surgery and their answering machines and all the rest of it) to do managers’ jobs is really stupid. It’s like paying consultants to be managers.

For which, read here, for a tale where I tell a consultant, I manage and consultants consult:http://cloudsmovingin.wordpress.com/2011/06/01/health-issues-more-smears/
I had similar problems with cancer groups. They don’t know the procedures and they think if they open their mouths things will get done as they wish. Idiots. But bigger idiots who put doctors in charge of managing.

I’m still glad I left. They had the generic NHS white on blue logo when I left though. It was a good idea I think. Don’t know why it took them so long to come up with it though. Probably because Thatcher wanted all trusts to be little independent businesses.

Last time I looked after the latest round of mergers, the local scene looked pretty much the same as when I first joined it, just a few different names and a few differently popular people at the top of the tree.

hell yes you have to work in it to understand some of the frustrations of being able to deliver the service patients expect! the funniest thing about meeting my friend on Monday was when she started reeling off the names of who she works with now……at some point in various roles we’ve all worked together across the health authority and PCT’s……Ground hog day!

Stupid WP ate my first reply. Anyway, it’s addictive. You meet someone who has worked in it and you can’t resist talking about it. Look at us on this thread for example. Did you ever read the ambulance driver blog that was quite famous at one point?

I didn’t read that, ambulance became Tees and North Yorkshire when I was there (and you remember how the NHS LOVE their acronyms??!!) it became…..TENYAS. Sounded very similar to the brand name of an old ladies incontinenance pad and I did almost wet myself when I heard! We used to have a sheet on the wall with all the acronyms so we could remember them and a separate one for ‘bullshit bingo’ – every time someone mentioned ‘a refresh’ or similar nonsensical improvement policy in a meeting we would tally up scores until someone could whisper (or shout out) BULLSHIT BINGO!! I feel you have to keep these things real or you out of your mind working for an institution!!

yes that was the other one! I don’t remember ‘back to first principles’ but if one more manager had mentioned the ‘re-fresh’ I would have gone crazy! …… we also got a lot of mileage out of one ginormous egotist who would say things like “I’m going to increase my sphere of influence”…..exhausting!

Ta mate. Have you seen the pic of babyroughseas on one of the seawalls at Brid where I am trying to elbow my mum? did you go to Wilson’s? the Pier Buffet? the bookshop up whatever street it was? I was allowed to run free around Brid before I was let loose at home. Still has a place in my heart. A lovely part of my life. So many West Riding people just went east. Escape from the mills I guess.